Funding Opportunities for New and Young Faculty

These programs are intended for late postdoctoral investigators and new faculty, usually those at or below the rank of Assistant Professor. Consult each program’s web page for more detailed information and current deadlines. Find more opportunities by using Pivot and selecting “Individuals: Early Career and Emerging in Field” under “Applicant Type,” or go to the Pivot search results for “New Faculty/New Investigator.”

Federal Agencies

Department of Agriculture

Program Deadline Program Synopsis
Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI), National Institute of Food and Agriculture varies by program area The Food and Agricultural Science Enhancement (FASE) Grants component includes funding for new investigators. A new investigator is defined as an individual who is beginning their career, does not have an extensive scientific publication record, and has less than five years postgraduate career-track experience. The new investigator may not have received competitively awarded Federal research funds as Project Director with the exception of pre- or postdoctoral grants or AFRI Seed Grants.

Department of Defense

Program Deadline Program Synopsis
Young Investigator Program, Office of Naval Research September ONR’s YIP seeks to identify and support academic scientists and engineers who are in their first or second full-time tenure-track or tenure-track-equivalent academic appointment and who show exceptional promise for doing creative research. Proposals may request up to $170,000 per year for three years.
Young Investigator Program, Air Force Office of Scientific Research summer The Air Force YIP supports scientists and engineers who have received Ph.D. or equivalent degrees in the last five years and show exceptional ability and promise for conducting basic research. The objective of this program is to foster creative basic research in science and engineering; enhance early career development of outstanding young investigators; and increase opportunities for the young investigator to recognize the Air Force mission and related challenges in science and engineering. Each award will be funded at the $120,000 level for three years. Exceptional proposals will be considered individually for higher funding levels and longer duration.
Young Faculty Award, DARPA December The objective is to identify and engage rising research stars in junior faculty positions at U.S. academic institutions and introduce them to Department of Defense needs as well as DARPA’s program development process. The YFA program provides funding, mentoring and industry and DoD contacts to awardees early in their careers so they may develop their research ideas in the context of DoD needs. The program focuses on untenured faculty, emphasizing those without prior DARPA funding.
Broad Agency Announcement - Young Investigator Program, Army Research Office open The ARO Young Investigator Program is included in the ARO Section of the ARL Core Broad Agency Announcement for Basic and Applied Scientific Research. The objective of the YIP is to attract outstanding young university faculty members to pursue fundamental research in areas relevant to the Army, to support their research in these areas, and to encourag e their teaching and research careers. This program is open to U.S. citizens, U.S. Nationals, and Permanent Resident Aliens holding tenure-track positions at U.S. universities and colleges, who have held their graduate degrees (Ph.D. or equivalent) for fewer than five years at the time of application. YIP awards are up to $120,000 per year for three years

Department of Energy

Program Deadline Program Synopsis
Early Career Research Program, Office of Science January for required preapplication, April for application This program supports the development of individual research programs of outstanding scientists early in their careers and stimulates research careers in the disciplines supported by the DOE Office of Science: Advanced Scientific Computing Research; Biological and Environmental Research; Basic Energy Sciences, Fusion Energy Sciences; High Energy Physics, and Nuclear Physics. No more than ten years can have passed between the year the Principal Investigator’s Ph.D. was awarded and the year the application was issued.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Program Deadline Program Synopsis
New (Early Career) Investigator Program in Earth Science (ROSES program element), NASA varies; applications are solicited every two years The NIP in Earth Science is designed to support outstanding scientific research and career development of scientists and engineers at the early stage of their professional careers. The program aims to encourage innovative research initiatives and cultivate scientific leadership in Earth system science. A NIP proposal PI must be a U.S. citizen or have lawful status of permanent residency, and be a recent Ph.D. recipient, defined as having graduated on or after January 1 of the year that is no more than five years before the issuance date of the ROSES NRA.
New Early Career Fellowship Program varies The Early Career Fellowship (ECF) program supports the development of individual research programs of outstanding scientists early in their careers and stimulate s research careers in the areas supported by the Planetary Sciences Division.
Nancy Grace Roman Technology Fellowships for Early Career Researchers varies The goals of the RTF program in Astrophysics are to provide early-career researchers the opportunity to develop the skills necessary to lead astrophysics flight instrument development projects; to develop innovative technologies for space astrophysics that have the potential to enable major scientific breakthroughs; and to foster new talent by putting early career instrument builders on a trajectory towards long-term positions. To be eligible, PIs must have received a Ph.D. on or after January 1 of a year that is no more than eight years before the issuance date of the ROSES NRA.
Early Career Faculty (ECF) (SpaceTech-REDDI) varies NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate solicits proposals for innovative, early-stage space technology research. The PI must be an untenured Assistant Professor on the tenure track at the sponsoring U.S. university at the time of award. The PI must be a U.S. citizen or have lawful status of permanent residency no later than August 1 following the proposal submission deadline.

National Institutes of Health

Resource Synopsis
Early Stage and Early Established Investigator Policies, Next Generation Researchers Initiative, NIH The NIH Early Stage and Early Established Investigator Policies page includes:
Research Training and Career Development Resources for early career researchers include:

National Science Foundation

Program Deadline Program Synopsis
Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program, NSF July CAREER supports early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization. The minimum award is $400,000 total for the five-year duration, except for the Directorate for Biological Sciences, the Directorate for Engineering, or the Office of Polar Programs, with a minimum total of $500,000 for the five-year duration.
Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Research Initiation Initiative (CRII) August It is expected that funds will be used to support untenured faculty or research scientists (or equivalent) in their first three years in a primary academic position after the PhD, but not more than a total of five years after completion of their PhD. One may not yet have received any other grants or contracts in the Principal Investigator role from any department, agency, or institution of the federal government, including from the CAREER program or any other program, post-PhD, with certain exceptions.
Plant Genome Research Program (PGRP): Early Career Investigator Awards (ECA-PGR) open Early career investigators are invited to submit proposals for PGRP projects that will advance their careers in plant genomics research. Proposals may be submitted for up to four years following the start date of a tenure-track appointment and prior to tenure.

Nonfederal Agencies

Program Deadline Program Synopsis
Young Investigator Grants, Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation December Grants are designed to support scientists during their fellowship training or early in their research careers. Demonstration of outstanding mentorship and demonstration of a career plan that shows commitment to pediatric cancer investigation are critical components o f a successful application.
Research Grants, Alzheimer’s Association March for letter of intent The association offers several grant programs that provide support for new investigators, including Alzheimer’s Association Research Grant and Alzheimer’s Association Research Grant to Promote Diversity.
AACR Funding Opportunities, American Association for Cancer Research varies Grants support researchers, both domestically and abroad, at every stage of their career, representing a global commitment to understanding, preventing, diagnosing, and treating cancer.
Research Scholar Grants, American Cancer Society April and October Grants support investigator-initiated projects across the cancer research continuum. Independent investigators in the first six years of an independent research career or faculty appointment are eligible.
Petroleum Research Fund Doctoral New Investigator Grants, American Chemical Society October Awards of $110,000 over two years provide start-up funding for scientists and engineers in the United States who are within the first three years of their first academic appointment at the level of Assistant Professor or the equivalent.
Fellowships, American Council of Learned Societies September Fellowships support research in all disciplines of the humanities and related social sciences. The ultimate goal of the project should be a major piece of scholarly work by the applicant. Awards provide up to $40,000 for Assistant Professor and career equivalent.
Core Program: Junior Faculty Development, American Diabetes Association April Awards support early investigators as they establish independence as diabetes researchers. Eligible applicants must be full-time independent faculty with less than 10 years of research experience since their terminal degree, with restrictions on previous or current support.
Grants for Junior Faculty, New Investigator Awards in Alzheimer’s Disease, American Federation for Aging Research varies Glenn Foundation for Medical Research and AFAR Grants for Junior Faculty provide up to $100,000 for a one- to two-year award to junior faculty. New Investigator Awards support research in areas in which more scientific investigation is needed to improve the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.
Young Investigator Innovation Grants, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention November 15 Grants of up to $85,000 over two years are awarded to investigators at or below the level of assistant professor, with an additional $10,000 ($5,000 per year) for an established suicide researcher who will mentor the Young Investigator.
Career Development Award, American Heart Association December Supports healthcare and academic professionals, in the early years of their first professional appointment, to explore innovative questions or pilot studies that will provide preliminary data and training necessary to assure future success as a research scientist in the field of cardiovascular and stroke research.
Centennial Fellowships, American Mathematical Association December 1 The program makes awards to outstanding mathematicians to help further their careers in research. Recipients shall have held the doctoral degree for at least three years and not more than twelve years at the inception of the award. Recipients may not hold the Fellowship concurrently with another major research award.
Research Awards, American Society for Mass Spectrometry November 30 The program is open to academic scientists within four years of joining the tenure track faculty or equivalent. Awards are $35,000.
New Investigators Research Grant, American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation April Research should have clinical relevance to audiology and/or speech-language pathology.The investigator must have completed a PhD or equivalent within the past five years. The investigator must not yet have received external research funding since completion of the PhD.
Early Career Investigator Award, Bayer Hemophilia Awards Program November for letter of intent This award will fund salary support and research funds for a junior faculty member who wishes to undertake a mentored basic and/or clinical research project in the bleeding disorders field.
Beckman Young Investigators Program, Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation August for letter of intent The program provides research support to young faculty members in the early stages of academic careers in the chemical and life sciences particularly to foster the invention of methods, instruments and materials that will open up new avenues of research in science. The program is open to those within the first three years of a tenure-track position, or an equivalent independent research appointment.
NARSAD Young Investigator Grants, Brain and Behavior Research Foundation March The program offers up to $35,000 per year for two years to enable promising investigators to either extend their research fellowship training or to begin careers as independent research faculty. All research must be relevant to our understanding, treatment and prevention of serious psychiatric disorders.
Investigators in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease, Burroughs Wellcome Fund July The PATH award provides $500,000 over five years to support investigators at the assistant professor level to study pathogenesis, with a focus on the interplay between human and microbial biology.
Young Investigator Awards, Children’s Tumor Foundation January The foundation supports neurofibromatoses research. The YIA provides two-year funding, commensurate with NIH, to young scientists early in their careers.
Research Grants - New Investigators, Desmoid Tumor Research Foundation January This RFP seeks applications from young investigators (at the rank of Associate Professor or below) who are new to desmoid tumor research and need seed funding to gather preliminary data.
Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Awards, Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation January for limited submission application (approximate) This programs offers $75,000 grants to young faculty in the chemical sciences. Criteria for selection include an independent body of scholarship attained in the early years of the appointment and a demonstrated commitment to education.
Career Development Award, Foundation Fighting Blindness March The award is for junior investigators to pursue research to find the therapies and cures for inherited retinal degenerative diseases. Clinician-scientists possessing an M.D., D.O., or recognized equivalent foreign degree and who are in their first, second, or third year of a junior faculty appointment are eligible.
Young Scholars Program, Foundation for Child Development June for letter of intent The program supports policy and practice-relevant research that is focused on the early learning and development needs of the nation’s children who are growing up under conditions of economic insecurity and social exclusion. Eligible researchers must have received their doctoral degrees within one to eight years of application submission.
Young Investigator Grant for Probiotics Research, Global Probiotics Council February Young investigators who are senior fellows with a committed faculty appointment or early faculty members within a maximum of 5 consecutive years of his/her first faculty appointment (appointments must be in the U.S.) are eligible.
Greenwall Faculty Scholars Program in Bioethics, Greenwall Foundation September for limited submission application (approximate) The program is a career development award to enable junior faculty members to carry out innovative bioethics research. Priority will be given to applicants who have not yet been considered for tenure, who have not received a comparable award, and whose work will have an impact on public policy, biomedical research, or clinical practice.
Rosenblith New Investigator Award, Health Effects Institute February for letter of intent The award provides up to three years of funding to a new investigator at the assistant professor or equivalent level for a small research project on the health effects of air pollution.
Young Investigators’ Research Grants, Human Frontier Science Program March for letter of intent Grants are awarded to teams of researchers from different countries, all of whom are within the first five years after obtaining an independent laboratory. Emphasis is placed on novel collaborations that bring together scientists preferably from different disciplines to focus on problems in the life sciences.
IDSA Education and Research Foundation Young Investigator Award, Infectious Diseases Society of America November Candidates for Young Investigator Awards must have a medical or equivalent doctoral level degree, and should have completed an accredited infectious diseases fellowship within the last four years.
Future Leader Award, International Life Sciences Institute North America June The award allows new investigators the opportunity to add to an existing project or to conduct exploratory research in the areas of experimental nutrition, nutrition and toxicology, and nutrition and food science.
Trainee Expansion Programme, International Society for Research in Human Milk and Lactation - Famliy Larsson-Rosenquist Foundation varies TEP funds two types of projects in human milk and lactation research: Trainee Travel Fund for activities achievable within three months, and Trainee Bridge Fund for activities achievable within one year.
Career Development Awards, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation June Researchers who have received their first faculty-level appointment less than three years before the submission date are eligible to apply for this award.
Kaufmann Junior Faculty Fellowship in Entrepreneurship Research, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation January This program recognizes junior faculty who are beginning to establish a record of scholarship and exhibit the potential to make significant contributions to the body of research in the field of entrepreneurship.
Klingenstein-Simons Fellowship Awards in the Neurosciences February The Award supports young investigators in the early stages of their careers engaged in basic or clinical research that may lead to a better understanding of neurological and psychiatric disorders. The candidate must be within four years of completing postdoctoral training and the start of his/her first tenure-track appointment.
Hollis Brownstein Research Grants Program, Leukemia Research Foundation February for letter of intent The Foundation provides one year grants of $100,000 to selected New Investigator researchers to allow innovative scientists to act on their ideas and try new procedures and experiments that will hopefully lead to significant breakthroughs. New Investigators are considered to be within seven years of their first independent position.
Young Investigator Grants, Lymphoma Research Foundation September Young Investigator Grants attract and train early career scientists for lymphoma research through three programs: Postdoctoral Fellowships, Clinical Investigator Career Development Awards, and the Lymphoma Clinical Research Mentoring Program.
Basil O’Connor Starter Scholar Research Awards, March of Dimes March for nomination This award is designed to support young scientists just embarking on their independent research careers on topics related to the March of Dimes mission to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality.
Scholar Awards, McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience January Awards encourage neuroscientists in the early stages of their careers to focus on disorders of learning and memory. Candidates must hold a full-time appointment at the rank of assistant professor, and must have served at that rank for less than four years at the application deadline.
Request For Proposals: Young Investigator Awards, Melanoma Research Alliance varies Applicants must be within four years of their first independent, full time academic faculty appointment at the time of application at the level of Assistant Professor (or equivalent position).
MQ Fellows Award, MQ: Transforming Mental Health Through Research varies The Award supports early career scientists who are asking challenging questions that will contribute to transformative advances in mental health research.
Young Investigator Awards, National Ataxia Foundation August for letter of intent One-year grants of $35,000 encourage young investigators to pursue a career in the field of any form of Ataxia research. Candidates must have attained an MD or PhD degree, and have an appointment as a junior faculty member, senior post-doc or clinical fellow.
Career Development Award, National Hemophilia Foundation February for letter of intent NHF funds innovative research studies in the area of bleeding disorders to be carried out at the sub cellular, cellular, animal or human/patient levels. CDA candidates must hold a MD, PhD, or equivalent degree, with no more than six years of postdoctoral years of experience in hematology, nor more than six years since completion of medical training.
Early Investigator Grant Program, National Marfan Foundation February The program supports early investigators studying any or all disciplines involved in Marfan syndrome or a related disorder. Applicants must have less than seven years experience in a faculty position and have never received an NIH R01 grant award.
Harry Weaver Neuroscience Scholar Awards, National Multiple Sclerosis Society August The awards support candidates who have concluded their research training and begun academic careers as independent investigators in an area related to multiple sclerosis.
Spinal Cord Injury Research on the Translational Spectrum, Craig H. Neilsen Foundation May for letter of intent Two-year Pilot Research Grants help to establish new investigators in the field of spinal cord injury research and support studies by established investigators who are undertaking new directions in their work.
Packard Fellowships for Science and Engineering, David and Lucile Packard Foundation February for limited submission application (approximate) The program invites nominations from selected institutions. Candidates must be eligible to serve as principal investigators engaged in research in the natural and physical sciences or engineering and must be within the first three years of their faculty careers.
Pew Scholars Program in the Biomedical Sciences June for limited submission application (approximate) The program makes grants to selected academic institutions to support the independent biomedical research of outstanding individuals who are in their first few years of their appointment at the assistant professor level.
Research Starter Grants, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America Foundation February 1 for Health Outcomes, Translational Medicine and Therapeutics; September 1 for Informatics, Pharmaceutics, Pharmacology/Toxicology PhRMA Foundation Research Starter Grants offer financial support to individuals beginning independent research careers at the faculty level.
Young Investigator Awards, Prostate Cancer Foundation March Awards offer support for young (generally 35 and younger) proven investigators in postdoctoral fellowships or who have recently achieved junior faculty positions and are committing their lives to the field of prostate cancer.
I.M. Rosenzweig Junior Investigator Awards, Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation November Awards support projects that offer a high likelihood of improving the understanding of pulmonary fibrosis in the following areas: basic science, transnational research, clinical medicine/research, and social science/quality of life.
Cottrell Scholars, Research Corporation for Science Advancement May for preproposal, July for invited proposal Eligible applicants are tenure-track faculty members whose primary appointment is in a department of astronomy, chemistry or physics. Eligibility is limited to faculty in the third year after their first tenure-track appointment.
Scialog, Research Corporation for Science Advancement varies Scialog supports early career faculty to expand research in a focused area of high scientific importance. Within each multi-year initiative, Fellows collaborate in high-risk discovery research on untested ideas and communicate their progress in annual closed conferences.
Innovation Award, Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation July The Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation Award is designed to provide support for the next generation of exceptionally creative thinkers with “high risk/high reward” ideas that have the potential to significantly impact our understanding of and/or approaches to the prevention, diagnosis or treatment of cancer.
Small Awards in Behavioral Economics, Russell Sage Foundation open Applicants must be advanced doctoral students or post-docs/junior (non-tenured) faculty members who have been out of graduate school for two or fewer years.
New Investigator Grant, Scleroderma Foundation September The Foundation seeks applications from promising new investigators who hold faculty or equivalent positions and who wish to pursue a career in research related to scleroderma.
Small Exploratory Grant, New Investigator Grant, Scoliosis Research Society April 1 and October 1 Small Exploratory Grant is designed specifically for new investigators who have a preliminary concept they would like to develop into a research project. New Investigator Grant is targeted towards new investigators, defined as either a fellow or within 10 years of completion of fellowship or equivalent specialist training, not previously awarded funding from a major funding organization.
Searle Scholars Program August for campus limited submission application (approximate) The program makes grants to selected academic institutions to support independent research of outstanding early-career scientists who have recently been appointed as assistant professors on a tenure-track appointment. Applicants will be expected to be pursuing independent research careers in biochemistry, cell biology, genetics, immunology, neuroscience, pharmacology, and related areas in chemistry, medicine, and the biological sciences.
Sloan Research Fellowships, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation September Fellowships support fundamental research by early-career scientists and scholars. Candidates must hold a Ph.D. (or equivalent) in chemistry, computational or evolutionary molecular biology, computer science, economics, mathematics, neuroscience, ocean sciences, physics, or a related field.
Strategy and Policy Fellows Program, Smith Richardson Foundation June Grants enable the recipients to research and write a book. Within the academic community, this program supports junior or adjunct faculty, research associates, and post-docs who are engaged in policy-relevant research and writing.
Pilot Research Grant, Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging February The pilot research grant is designed to help a basic or clinical scientist in the early stages of their career conduct research that may lead to further funding.
Distinguished Scientist Award, Sontag Foundation March The award provides career and research support to early career scientists who demonstrate outstanding promise for making scientific and medical breakthroughs in the field of brain cancer research.
External Faculty Fellowships, Stanford Humanities Center October Junior fellowships are for scholars who will be at least three and no more than ten years beyond receipt of the PhD by the start of the fellowship year. Fellowships are for one full academic year, and require the fellow to be in residence.
Innovative, Developmental, and Exploratory Awards, UC California Breast Cancer Research Program October for letter of intent, March for application Researchers at a career level beyond postdoctoral training and less than three years as an independent investigator, or entering research from another field, are encouraged to apply for IDEA grants.
New Assistant Professor Awards, UC Cancer Research Coordinating Committee January for letter of intent, April for proposal CRCC is a systemwide, faculty-directed cancer research program that provides competitive intramural research awards for topics in any discipline that address any aspect of cancer , including its origin s, prevention and cure.
UC President’s Faculty Research Fellowship in the Humanities, UC Humanities Research Institute January The program provides UC faculty with fellowship support to carry out an extended research project in the humanities and humanistic social sciences. Assistant Professors are especially encouraged to apply.
California STAR Award, UC Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program September for letter of intent, December for application Support is intended for select investigators who have recently been recruited and appointed to a position as an independent faculty member by a California-based research institution.
Start-Up Research Grant, U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation November Projects must have a strong element of cooperation between an Israeli and an American scientist(s), and fall within the areas of research supported in that year by the BSF. At least one of the principal investigators should have attained his/her Ph.D., M.D. degree or equivalent, no more than ten years prior to submitting the proposal.
Grants-in-Aid, Whitehall Foundation January 15, April 15, and October 1 for letter of intent Funds researchers at the assistant professor level in the life sciences. The Foundation is currently interested in basic research in neurobiology.

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